BIRNet: Brain image registration using dual-supervised fully convolutional networks.

Journal: Medical image analysis
Published Date:

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a deep learning approach for image registration by predicting deformation from image appearance. Since obtaining ground-truth deformation fields for training can be challenging, we design a fully convolutional network that is subject to dual-guidance: (1) Ground-truth guidance using deformation fields obtained by an existing registration method; and (2) Image dissimilarity guidance using the difference between the images after registration. The latter guidance helps avoid overly relying on the supervision from the training deformation fields, which could be inaccurate. For effective training, we further improve the deep convolutional network with gap filling, hierarchical loss, and multi-source strategies. Experiments on a variety of datasets show promising registration accuracy and efficiency compared with state-of-the-art methods.

Authors

  • Jingfan Fan
    Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
  • Xiaohuan Cao
    School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.
  • Pew-Thian Yap
    Department of Radiology and BRIC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
  • Dinggang Shen
    School of Biomedical Engineering, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China.